heather: i love this story. bill: you can buy one. heather: seriously. it's not the jetsons anymore, right? bill: avoid all that gridlock. heather: "happening now" starts right now. jenna: maybe people will buy that because they certainly are not buying houses. hi, everybody, brand new housing numbers today that show this year's on pace to be the worst for sales since the housing bust. existing home sales dropping month, you see the number on your screen there. the national association for realtors also says a record number of signed contracts were canceled last month meaning that the deals were going, they were going, and then something fell through along the way. some say this is because some tougher lending standards. first-time buyers also a smaller share of the market. if you have any questions about housing, about the economy overall, steve moore is here a little later on in the show. he's going to join us right

around 12:30 or so, he's going to be talking housing, the debt showdown, what it all means for you. so you have an hour and some change to get your questions to us. log on to foxnews.com/happeningnow and click on the america's asking tab to send in your questions. in. jon: and this fox news alert out of minnesota where the governor just signed a new budget ending one of the longest-ever state government shutdowns. harris is live with the breaking story for us. harris? is. >> reporter: yeah. there were a lot of people wondering how this one would come together. minnesota governor mark dayton has just signed an agreement he struck with leading republicans after months of very bitter arguments over taxes and spending cuts. they were trying to close a pretty sizable deficit in their spending there, and they have been brutal on this issue for quite some time. you see some video from early on in those discussions, people on all sides of the issue. the government shut down july 1st, and that laid off 22,000 state employees, stopped road

projects, people couldn't get licensing for all sorts of things like fishing and what not be, and it's a big recreational state. it cost the state millions in be lost revenue from lottery sales, tax audits, park fees and licensing fees, so on and so forth, but now they can go ahead. some state officials now saying, though, it may take some time to get programs back up and running so they can be moneymakers again for the state. and those 22,000 state employees can go back to work, but it's kind of a phase-in situation. so the big headline in all of this is the longest-running state shutdown in a decade in this country now has come to a close with the governor making an agreement with leading republicans in the state of minnesota. now back to you guys. jenna: hi, everybody, so glad you're joining us today, i'm jenna lee. jon: and i'm jon scott.

we are here in the fox newsroom and "happening now," brand new numbers in the race for the white house. "the wall street journal" poll shows tea party favorite michele bachmann is surging. jenna: she's not the national leader, though, that title goes to mitt romney. jon: he gets 30% of the republican voters surveyed who say they are likely to vote in the primary, but bachman has 16% in this poll, a strong showing compared with the 3% she had just a month ago. that was before she officially announced her presidential bid, but here's another interesting twist. take a look at that, texas governor rick perry who habit even decided on -- hasn't even decided on a white house run comes ahead of all the other announced candidates, he is in third at 11%. jenna: the gop hopefuls criss-cross iowa today gearing up for the all-important straw poll which can make or break a campaign. jon: and joining us now, chris

stirewalt. straw polls, how much should we make of them, chris? >> it's a real big deal, and there's going to be a little debate hosted by fox news two day before the straw poll that is going to be another pivotal moment and part of this whole discussion. because, remember, the mania that the republican party is feeling right now as michele bachmann surges will be made or broken depending on whether or not she can deliver a big win in iowa. she needs to win convincingly, or at least have a very strong second place to mitt romney to get the kind of momentum that somebody like mike huckabee had in 2008. for it to be a launching pad, she needs to perform well in the debate, she needs to perform well in the straw poll and convince iowa voters that she's a long shot that's worth taking a chance on. jon: are you surprised, chris, at how well she is doing even in that national poll we just talked about? i mean, she's a relatively, um, little-known member of congress, and to rocket to number two in

this poll is pretty amazing. >> well, jon, i've always figured that the best way to get ahead in politics is to manage expectations and remember that the expectations for michele mie bachmann, especially among liberals, were rock bottom. they thought she was a flake, that she couldn't do it, and then she got out there, started talking, and people said, wow, she actually makes a convincing argument. wow, she can put two words together. and it had a great effect for her because she exceeded expectations with by so much. now, however, that those expectations have been exceeded there's a new benchmark that she has to hit, and that's where it gets more challenging. jon: and interesting to me, fascinating that rick perry, a guy who isn't even in the race, said he hasn't decided yet, certainly hasn't announced, comes in third ahead of all the people who have announced. that is, that is, i should say, you know, behind mitt romney, obviously, who's in first. >> part of that is the fact that he is new and people can ascribe

whatever views and beliefs that they want to give him, but it also is the truth that he is talking the talk that conservatives want to hear. the tea party is looking for a more conservative alternative to mitt romney, and right now rick perry is looking like the guy. he's building a lot of momentum, he's building a strong campaign. it's happening for him. once it comes into contact with reality, who knows what happens. but for now things are stacking up exactly the way governor perry would probably want. jon: all right. chris -- [laughter] thanks very much. we're going to be -- >> you bet. jon: we're going to be talking with jeb hensarling, he is heavily involved with the budget talks underway. chris stirewalt, thanks. jenna: well, lots of important debates happening in be d.c. we, of course, have the debt crisis but a whole host of other things as well. another hot story, a nasty war

of words between two house members from florida. tea party-backed congressman alan west calling dnc chair and congresswoman debbie caterman schultz -- wasserman schultz, quote, vile and despicable after she made comments on the floor last night bringing up congressman west. shannon bream is live in washington to break this all down for us. hi, shannon. >> reporter: hi, jenna. you know there's plenty of acrimony in washington these days when it comes to finding a solution to our debt crisis. shortly after congressman alan west took to the floor in the support of the cut, cap and balance measure, florida democrat debbie wasserman-schultz went to the floor to respond apparently referring to west, but not by name. >> president obama has vow today veto this bill which ends the medicare guarantee and incredulously, the gentleman from florida who represents thousands of medicare beneficiaries, as do i, is supportive of this plan that would increase costs for medicare beneficiaries.

unbelievable from a member from south florida. it slashes medicaid and critical investments essential to winning the future in favor of protecting tax breaks for big oil, millionaires and be companies who ship american jobs overshes. >> reporter: west fired back via e-mail saying, quote: >> reporter: not backing down. take a listen. >> when a conservative stands up and says enough, then people want to sit back and especially liberals want to play a victim. she's been attacking. alisyn: eleven west for quite some time, and i finally had to let her know, enough's enough. >> reporter: she says he's probably more upset that republicans are trying to balance the budgets on the back of seniors, children and adding that the truth hurts.

jenna: shannon, thank you very much. jon: right now you might be among the millions of people in the u.s. sweltering in these extreme temperatures. a so-called heat dome is covering a huge swath of the country. be 32 states are under some type of warning. you can see them right there on our screen. a warning, a watch or advisory as the mercury climbs into the 90s and even the low 100s. this suffocating dome of hot air could linger for days. steve brown is live in chicago, and i guess you're settling in for the worst of it now there, huh, steve? >> reporter: just now in the chicago area, other parts of the country for days now, but we've got a high heat warning that has been issued by the national weather service for the greater chicago area and most of the county surrounding it. essentially, that means temperatures are going to be really high, humidity high, and expects winds to be calm to

still which means your ability to cool off just being outside are rather limited, and this is going to keep on rolling through in this particular portion of the country until at least friday morning. so the conditions here have gone from not only annoying, but on to oppressive and now to dangerous. >> as the body temperature starts going up, that's when we start having symptoms that are really of concern. so if we start sweating excessively, if we start breathing fast or if our pulse starts going higher, if we start having nausea or vomiting or if we fate faint, those are really bad signs that something more serious is happening. >> reporter: now, certainly, folks who are elderly are at risk in such extreme weather conditions like we're having in most of the country right now and certainly the middle sec, but younger folks as well largely because the area, the surface area of their skin versus their body mass is so much smaller that the heat effects them much more often,

and they're less prone to take in fluids when they really need them, only when after that point is reached. so watch out for the younger folks too. a lot of cities, including indianapolis, have put together meet plans to keep kids and the elderly, folks that don't have access to air-conditioning, to get them near some sort of city park or pool, to get them toward some sort of building that might have air-conditioning at least during the height of the heat which is, essentially, from about noon until late afternoon. so a lot of cities are doing that in. here in the city of chicago, six cooling centers -- and they've been open for a couple of days -- they hadn't been highly visited, but we expect that will change as the temperatures soar towards 100, expected to surpass over the course of the next couple of days. jon: i see you have heeded the warnings and ditched the necktie. can we just make that a national rule for the rest of summer? [laughter] >> reporter: i think there's a company, you know, commandment about wearing a tie, but they

tend to allow you a little, you know, leeway when the weather is like this. i've also jettisoned the suit coat, but i am wearing pant, so i've got to going. [laughter] jon: that's good to know. steve brown live in chicago. thanks, steve. >> reporter: not shorts. jenna: there's the money be, right? back to washington now where president obama is praising a debt reduction proposal put forward by the bipartisan senate gang of six. the plan would cut washington's debt by $3.7 trillion over ten years. the question, of course, we ask now is what's actually in that plan? fox business network's peter barnes is life from the white house with more on this -- is live from the white house with more on this. what are some of the details, the main points of this plan? >> reporter: hey, jenna, we have a handy dandy full screen. $3.7 trillion of reduction over ten years, but that would be

with the help of a trillion dollars in new tax revenue generated through killing many potential and business tax reductions as a part of tax reform. it proposes $500 billion in immediate spending cuts over the next ten years as a down payment on deaf state reduction -- deficit reduction and would require fast tracking of legislation on spending cuts, entitlement reform, and it would require expedited debate and voting on the house and senate floors, jenna. jenna: as far as the prospects for the plan, what's next for it? we have that big debt ceiling debate happening right now as well. >> reporter: yeah. well, this proposal comes late to the party. there's no specific language, and it's kind of short on details. members of the gang of six are saying this is probably not going to end up part of the debt ceiling package that we'll likely see in the next week or so here, but it could be a good road map for the future for long-term deficit reduction. jenna: we'll keep everyone posted on what happens next.

peter, thank you. >> reporter: okay. jon: we have just touched on some of the breaking news stories of the day, but we have more big ones for you throughout the hour including a strong message for president obama: stop spending money we don't have. is that easier said than done? a house republican leader who is trying to pass that message along joins us next. are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today.

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rigorous practices help ensure our operations are safe and clean for our communities and the environment we are america's natural gas. jon: a plan that would balance our nation's budget and raise the debt ceiling approved in the house of representatives but just about everyone agrees it has no chance in the democratically-controlled senate. and president obama has already said if it were to get out of the senate, he'll veto it. our next guest says americans want washington to spend money we don't have, he is congressman jeb hensarling of texas. he is chairman of the house republican conference.

all right, so the house passed the ccb, the cut, cap and balance plan, but as we just said, it's not going to go anywhere. was it a wasted exercise, congressman? >> well, you say that. let's have the american people look at the plan and then pick up the telephone and call their united states senators. you know, the president's pretty good at telling us what he's against, but he has yet to put a plan on the table to tell us what he's for. this is not a speech, this is not a press release, this is an actual house-passed bill that does what the president claims he wanted to do, raise the debt ceiling before august 2nd and a credible plan to deal with the debt crisis. it's the only one out there, let's have the american people take a look at it and see if maybe a few people in larry reid's senate -- harry reid's senate won't change their mind. there's only one plan now, and it's a house-passed bill to cut, to cap, to balance, to solve the crisis. jon: all right.

i have a question from one of our viewers on our chat. lyle blackman wants to know what is your plan b if you can't get it through the senate? >> well, i'm still working on plan a. jon: okay. >> again, what the american people have said, number one, we need immediate cuts. there's $110 billion of real, immediate cuts after president obama passed a trillion dollar stimulus plan through this town that did no good, a $1.4 trillion takeover of our government health care, $3 trillion deficits in a row, this is a modest cut today. second of all, cap the growth of government. going forward over a ten-year period, government will still grow, but it will eventually reach its historic norm of 20% of our economy. last but not least, balance the budget. i mean, every single family has to do it, every single small business, heck, 49 of 50 states have a balanced budget requirement of some sort. why should we expect our federal government shouldn't have one?

maybe that's the reason we have $14 trillion of debt. we want an opportunity to sell this plan to the american people. jon: i'm sure you've seen the poll that's in "the wall street journal" today, it's an nbc news/"wall street journal" poll, and it asked americans should congress raise the debt limit? according to this poll at least, 38 president say, yes -- 38% say, yes, 31% say, no, 30% say they don't know enough to make a decision, so you've got a plurality in favor of raising the debt ceiling. what's your take on that poll, congressman? >> well, i don't try to live and breathe by the polls of the day. i try to do what's right. and what we need to do, what's right to help create jobs today, i mean, job creators are fearful that this debt is going to cause higher taxes which is going to bankrupt their businesses. to make sure that our children continue to have a higher standards of living and greater opportunity. what i know is that we have a spending-driven deficit, and we've got to attack it from the

spending side, and that's what cut, cap and balance does. and if a plurality of americans believe you have to increase the debt ceiling, there's only one bill that's done it, it's the house of representatives. we acted last night. everybody else is talk, the house has acted. jon: we are going to keep watching how this, how this bill does as it heads towards the senate. congressman jeb hensarling, republican of texas, thanks for being our guest today. >> thank you. jenna: he's another big story we're watching. you have one mansion, two bizarre deaths and countless questions. brand new information following the unusual tragedy in one small oceanside town. that's just ahead.

jon: american airlines making what it says is the biggest airline order in history.

it's buying at least 460 new jets over the next four -- five years, i should say, from boeing and airbus. harris faulkner live in the newsroom with a little bit more on that. harris? >> reporter: yeah. you know, american airlines' parent company is going to purchase 460 new planes, and they're going to take about half of them from boeing and half from a european plane maker. they're hoping to drive down some of their fuel expenses by putting better mileage planes in the air. they also, it's kind of a twin announcement because they're also saying that they plan to, you know the american eagle subsidiary, they're going to spin that off as a separate company. all of this, though, under one blanket announcement which was not so positive for the parent company, amr corp. of american airlines. it says that the group lost $286 million in the second quarter so far of this year, and they're blaming -- in some part -- rising fuel prices that wiped out their gains in revenue.

so in part their purchase of new plane might be able to deal with some of those losses, but this is a big almost triple headline, really, for american airlines this morning, jon. jon: and it's a big win for airbus with, it's the first time that american bought those european planes. >> reporter: right, and airbus will build 260 of them, and boeing is going to have to share some of that market with airbus. jon: harris faulkner, thanks. >> reporter: sure. jenna: new information following the deaths of two people at a historic mansion and new information is welcome because there are so many lingering questions still. what your seeing right now -- what you're seeing right now is outside the home of a major pharmaceutical executive. his 6-year-old died after a fall inside that mansion. now, just days after that incident the executive's girlfriend was also found dead at the house. adam houseley is live in los angeles with more on this. hi, adam. >> reporter: hi, jenna. there is a slight chance today we could get some results from

autopsies. it really depends on whether the investigationers want to seal those entirely or not. they're going back and forth whether to do that. we've talked with them a couple of times about the possibilities, so that could come out. let me give you a timeline after what happened here. just ten days ago a 6-year-old boy, max, the son of a ceo of a major corporation, his son, this 6-year-old boy falls down the stairs and is in very critical condition. jonah be is his father, and his father's girlfriend who you see in the picture with the young boy was in charge of him at the time. she was watching him along with a 13-year-old. so fast forward to wednesday, one week ago. that boy's still in very critical condition. the girlfriend, 33-year-old rebecca, is found hanging from are a balcony, her hands are bound, and she's naked. the brother finds her hanging and cuts her down.

then on sunday the boy dies in the hospital of his injuries. now, authorities originally said the boy died of an accident and that the death of the girlfriend was suspicious, but they had not ruled out the possibility that this was a suicide. we asked the question, well, can you bind your own hands and feet and then kill yourself? they said on very rare occasions that does happen when someone doesn't want to save themselves. so at this hour the death is still being considered suspicious. and last night we heard from an investigator that the two now, potentially, could be connected. they haven't ruled that out. so, jenna, as you look at this case and as we await toxicology results and release of the autopsies, this could be something as simple as a horrible accident and a horrible suicide to something a lot more sinister, and investigators will agree with that as they go forward. they say this isn't like tv where the answers come right away. there are really, sometimes, no easy answers and there are a lot of ways and areas to look at

this. we do know that jonah, the man who lost his girlfriend and son, was at his season's bedside, we're told, holding vigil when she was found dead. so that's at least one piece of information we got this morning. jenna? jenna: we'll look forward to those developments, adam. thank you very much. jon: some pretty incredible new video coming in to the fox newsroom from quebec. take a look at this and see if you can figure out what's going on. is it some kind of a joke? no. it is a manhole that was blown off by the force of flood waters. after the break we're going to show you some more of this incredible video out of canada. plus, court action in the fort hood shooting massacre. there's the suspect, nidal hasan. he makes his first appearance before a military judge sense he found -- since he found out he will face the possibility of the death penalty. how that impacts his plea just moments from now. we'll talk live with a former jag officer. and we know a lot of you are

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jon: just in, more of this dramatic new video caught on tape, take a look. it's in montreal, canada. a manhole cover erupting under the pressure of flood waters. it actually lifts that car in the process be. poor car simply parked in the wrong place at the wrong time. the back end of the car did sustain some damage, as you can imagine. look at that guy driving by, has no idea there's a geyser about to explode and lift the car up in the process. it's all caused by flood waters pouring into a storm sewer system, blew the manhole cover right off the, well, the storm sewer, i guess, there. pretty amazing video out of quebec, canada. jenna? jenna: another story we're watching, suspected ford hood shooter major nidal hasan will be arraigned in a military court many just a few hours from now. it's his first court appearance

since it was determined he will face the death penalty. he's accused of killing 13 people and wounding 32 others during a shooting spree at a now to talk more two years ago. abo this, michael farkas. when it comes to the death penalty and facing the death penalty in a military court, you can't plead guilty. why not? >> well, the charges are so serious and the process is so rigid that military judge isn't going to accept, well can't legally, any kind of guilty plea in a death penalty case. really if you think about it, it kind of makes sense. jenna: so the reason we bring that up is, obviously, he can enter a plea today and what here hearing is it might be insanity, that might be what his lawyers are going for. what do you think about that? >> he's probably not going to plead insanity today. he's certainly going to enter a plea of not guilty, and it seems to be the most rational course

of action for them to pursue, an insanity defense, although probably the best that they really are hoping for is mental illness will mitigate against the death penalty. jenna: do you think it will? >> i think there's a good chance of the death penalty never being implement inside this case. there have been no death penalties enacted since 1961, i believe, there's only been one other soldier sentenced to death, and i believe his attorney correctly cited a statistic of 80% of cases slated for death end up being reversed and life without parole being put in place by the courts. so it's an incredibly difficult charge to sustain, even as deserving as this case is of it. jenna: thirteen people dead because of this, 32 others injured, and a senate report recently said the fbi missed warning signs that maybe -- and who knows, it's hard to know --

could have prevented this from happening. do you see any other charges being levied because of negligence, because of not acting on some information? >> well, we see this in so many aspects of our lives in this country and beyond not just in terms of the military, i mean, even in the financial crisis. how many heads have rolled, so to speak, for the destruction of our economy? i don't think it's all that likely there will be real accountability for the missing of these warning signs, but hopefully, we can all learn something from this and prevent it from happening again. jenna: just a quick final question. i'm sure some of our viewers are wondering, it seems like an open and shut case. i know it's tough to look from the outside looking in, but why does it take so long? we don't know when this will actually go to trial. >> right. the investigation itself is truly monumental, the amount of evidence, forensic analysis that has to happen, it's extraordinary, especially in a case of this nature. really the time frame has been pretty reasonable, in my opinion.

jenna: that's good to know, have some perspective because, obviously, so many families looking for some justice here. thank you so much for coming in. >> thank you for having me. jenna: appreciate it, as always. we'll keep everyone up-to-date when that arraignment happens today. jon: people are just absolutely outraged about what happened there, and a lot of outrange about this, with -- outrage about this, with the debt deadline looming, we have competing plans on the hill. what happens if both chambers can't come together and make a deal? where that could leave us come august 2nd. also a scary crash at a mow to cross -- motocross race in minnesota. what happened next when we return. ♪ [ jerry ] i'm a grandfather, a retired teacher,

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jon: a spectacular crash to show you from a motocross race in minnesota. you can see rider chad reed gathering speed ahead of a jump, but right as he hits the jump, his bike wobbles sending him catapulting through the area, flailing wildly. he hits the dirt, momentum carries him about 50 feet before that rough landing. amazingly, he comes out of it virtually unharmed. after a quick inspection of himself and his bike, reed hooped back on, before hopped back on, he actually continued the race. jenna: you're kidding? jon: that's jenna lee kind of tough. jenna: i don't know about that. jon: holy cow. jenna: just gets right back on the bike, huh? jon: yep. jenna: well, we'll take a little inspiration a as we turn to d.c. right now. new developments in the last-minute rush to prevent a possible government default. a bipartisan senate plan from the so-called gang of six

gaining some traction after the president signals some fresh support for it. the gang of six itself has said it's not a solution to the debt ceiling limit deadline, that's the more immediate concern, but it does create a blueprint of sorts for cutting spending and raising taxes and maybe it'll help foster some compromise. its fate far from certain, the question is what would happen in the house. and joining us now, california congressman javier bow sera who is inti -- intimately involved in this. congressman, nice to have you today. >> thanking for having me -- thanks for having me, jenna. jenna: just to set the stage, last night through the house the cut, cap and be balance bill was passed along party lines. what happens to it next is, again, uncertain, but it's not expected to go anywhere. now you have this other proposal from the gang of six that's not really legislation yet, it's nothing really to look at yet for a member like you.

so where do we stand here? we have the debt ceiling deadline looming, and we still have these questions about what we do about cutting the debt. what's next? >> jenna, it's, it's the tale of two cities. in the house republicans put up a proposal which was going to go nowhere on the floor. it seemed more like a proposal to give them street cred with their tea party folks back home. maybe now they're ready to really start to negotiate. on the senate side, there is a bipartisan group that's come up with this plan, that's the good news. it looks like republicans have loosened the straitjacket a bit. but whether or not it can be something that could be put into legislative language in time is doubtful, so we're left with still this default crisis, will america default on its debt? i hope we'll find cooler heads will prevail, work with the president to come up with a plan to help us get past the default crisis and then deal with these deficits at the same time. jenna: if that doesn't happen, and admittedly there's been a lot of political posturing on

both sides around this issue, would you support a unilateral approach by the president to move ahead without congress and make some sort of decision about raising the debt ceiling? >> i would hope we wouldn't have to get to that point, jenna, where a president would have to act unilaterally when it's our collective responsibility to deal with past debts. this is not about future spending, taking out the credit card, spending for the future. this is about taking care of the wars in the iraq and afghanistan, it's about taking care of those bush tax cuts, it's about taking care of the medicare prescription drug bill. all those costs. and to say we're going to forget about those and worry about the future when our kids are the ones that will suffer is irresponsible. so i don't think the president would want to act unilaterally, nor do i think congress has to force the president into acting unilaterally. we can get this done. this is a manufactured crisis because for seven different occasions under president bush, under 17 or 18 different occasions under president reagan

republicans voted to lift the debt ceiling because they knew we would default on our debts for the first time in history. jenna: so let's say we're moving towards this deadline, and we actually are -- >> we are. jenna: august 2nd, right? you've seen so many different numbers and you mentioned so many different issues, and i don't mean to gloss over that in generalities, but there's so much involved in this decision about the debt ceiling and also about cutting spending overall. but where do you see the light as far as these moments where you could actually see compromise? where do you see across the aisle that there is some opportunity to compromise? because it must exist somewhere, right, congressman? where do you see it? >> you've pretty much put your thumb on the real issue here. every american family that sit down at the kitchen table to make those tough decisions -- by the way, congratulations on your marriage. now you'll have to sit down with your husband -- jenna: it's already happened. it's not easy. >> it's not easy, but we do it

because we have no choice. if we want to plan for how kids to go to college f we want to make sure our parents can retire in dignity, we have to plan ahead. and that's what we're actually asking congress to do is just be prepared to plan ahead, but do it in a balanced way. don't just say you're going to take a vacation but not prepare for your kids' college. you've got to plan. jenna: speaking of the future, you bring up so many good points about that. it really comes to entitlements, doesn't it? you're a ranking member of the subcommittee on social security. social security is, obviously, part of every family's planning about what their later years are going to look like. so when it comes to entitlement and entitlement reform, where do you see the opportunity? because you also sat on the president's commission for this fiscal crisis that said we have to raise the ages for social security in order to save it. do you advocate that? do you think that needs to be part of the discussion today? >> there are things that i have heard proposed that i could not agree with. but it's not for me to say because i don't want agree we

can't discuss them. everything must be on the table. the president has said you have to have a balanced approach. you can't have this my way or the highway approach we've seen in the house by republicans. so at the end of the day all entitlement programs, all spending programs, all tax programs have to be on the table so we can have a balanced approach. but you can't wall off certain things because they're your pet projects. and so, jenna, we can get there. i'm willing to talk about social security or medicare, but when someone says social security should pay for the deficits of the past, when social security hasn't added one single penny to the deficit, i wonder why should seniors take a cut in social security to pay for tax cuts that went to a millionaire or for big oil subsidies? you've got to be balanced, and it's got to be something smart. the public knows it when they sit at their kitchen table, when you do and is i do too, concern and i do too, we come up with smart decisions that make sure we can buy the house -- jenna: congressman, i can't even

see my kitchen table right now, there's such a mess happening in my house. [laughter] >> you're too honest. jenna: just real quick, around and around we go. what's happening today that is working to solve this issue? because august 2nd is soon. >> probably the best thing we've had working for us is that the president never allowed the members of congress to walk away from the table, the negotiation table. twice house republicans said, we're done, we're out, and the president kept saying, no, we're going to keep meeting, gave them time to cool off, everyone came back. senate republicans and senate democrats stayed at the table, and i think that the fact that the president said, no, we're a family, we've got to get this done has really helped because we've now seen that the senate's come out with an approach. whether it's something we can agree with, we'll find out. but at least, as i said, we're now beginning to talk about all the elements that have to be in a final solution. and quite honestly, it's going to be painful. sacrifices by everyone, some

people will say, wait a minute, why do i have to contribute? and that's going to be the difficult part because we have to make sure we go after the folks who contributed to these deficits most. but, ultimately, we're a family, and we come up with an approach that there's going to be pain, but we'll all see some gain as well. jenna: hopefully, that family spirit will carry through. it can be rough, but hopefully there's a good result. congressman, thank you so much for joining us today. >> will jenna, thanks for having me. jon: new information out after a u.s. government scandal that armed mexican dug -- drug gangs. operation fast and furious led to the arrests of multiple suspects accused of buying weapons. now only one of those people remains behind bars. why? and you don't want to miss this, former governor mike huckabee gets a one-on-one interview with israel's prime minister in the wake of that international showdown. the governor on what benjamin netanyahu now says about the fallout from an israeli raid. also harris is over at the

web wall check anything on the voting for today's must-see moment. how's it going? >> reporter: oh, it's fabulous. this is the time when our viewers get to decide. foxnews.com/happeningnow for the top stories. we will be right back. with the hotels.com 48-hour sale, the possibilities are endless.

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jon: developments, now, in the latest attempt the bring's reel's blockade of the gaza strip first put in place four years ago to stop arms smuggling. now just one day after israeli naval commandos took over a paren the. -- french ship. last year you'll remember the fire storm over another incident, israeli naval commandos clashed on a turkish ship which was trying to reach gaza. nine activists were killed with both sides claiming they acted

in self-defense. one week from now the u.n. is set to release a report on that incident. governor mike huckabee, the host of "huckabee requests -- huckabee on fox news channel just interviewed benjamin netanyahu, and that event still very much on his mind r mind, right, governor? >> for good reason. this was a direct attempt to sort of test the backbone of the israelis by bring anything a ship full of weapons to gaza. this is absurd. and the real tragedy is that so many people in the international community acted as if israel sort of overreacted. are you kidding? imagine what would happen if in some way some boat filled with explosives sailed into new york harbor. i'm pretty sure that americans would say whatever you have to do, you have to sop that boat. -- stop that boat. in in the interview we pretty much cover everything, and one of the things that we'll with talk about is exactly why this

flotilla and the attempt to once again penetrate the security border is really a threat not just to israel, but to the united states and to everybody in the west against, really, a radical view of world events. jon: israel, obviously, a very small country surrounded in large part by nations that don't like it very much. and you've got the increasing threat from tehran which is developing those ballistic missiles that are probably capable of hitting israel. how nervous are they right now about this arab spring and everything that's going on? >> very nervous, jon. and with good reason. and one of the things that i pressed the prime minister on was how willing is israel ready to go to make sure that iran doesn't get the weaponnized nuclear material? and how close are they? and i think he makes it clear that israel will do what it has to do without being explicit in whatever military plans they may have. but it's also very evident that it's not justice reel that is at

stake here. you have saudi, united arab emirates, kuwait, qatar, all of the nations, really jordan, everyone is at risk if iran is able to have nuclear weapons. jon: governor, we'll be right back. thank you. ♪ i used to see the puddles, but now i see the splash. ♪ i wanted love, i needed love ♪ ♪ most of all, most of all... ♪

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jenna: hi, everybody. the debt drama intensifying, really minute by minute, right, jon? jon: it sure is. the developments are hard to keep track of. there's a house plan that would substantially cut the nation's debt. it is not likely to get much traction in the senate even though it's been passed by the house. jenna: and then you have the other plan that may be floated out there by the gang of six which are senators, but there's no real proposal on paper to hand anybody. mike emanuel's live at the white house checking out all these developments. mike, we have two different things happening, right? you have the debt ceiling, but you also have this question about how we're going to cut debt long term. so where are we today? >> reporter: well, essentially, you know, the white house is hopeful that that gang

of six plan can materialize and be further, you know, move the ball down the road, if you will, that perhaps the senators can make a lot of progress in getting it done. there's a lot of questions about whether it can get done by august 2nd, but a lot of people would tell you that when the congress makes up its mind to do something, to actually do something, things can move be pretty quickly. so it's not entirely clear if they can get it done, but we do expect the gang of six to talk to reporters about 3:00 this afternoon. there also sounds like the possibility of a white house meeting with some leading lawmakers late afternoon, so a lot of moving parts, and we're just trying to keep track of it, jenna. jenna: as we all are, right, mike? it is tough to watch. as we mentioned, it is changing, really, minute by minute, so you have the gang of six, the president came out during the press briefing yesterday, seemed to kind of give a thumbs up, keep going to them. again, it's a bipartisan group.

why was the president and other leaders so quick to jump onto this idea when, again, nothing really on firm paper for anyone to take a look at? >> reporter: well, president obama has said these are going to be tough votes for members to take, so why not do something big? so when the gang of six talks about cutting four trillion or so in spending over the next decade or so, he recognizes that is a serious plan, a bipartisan plan that's been in the works for some six months or so. and so bottom line, rather than doing something that was looking like you're kicking the can down the road, the president decided to jump in and say, hey, this looks like something good, let's flesh out the language, let's talk turkey, if you will, and see if we can move this forward. jenna: we'll see what happens. again, the august 2nd deadline for the debt ceiling is there. the question is, would that be brought into this plan by the gang of six. still a lot of questions, mike. thank you so much for the developments. we appreciate it, mike emanuel at the white house today. >> reporter: thank you, jenna.

jon: well, the heat is on in washington and really right now america is in the grip of a brutal heat wave. it's not just un"cavuto" bl and muggy -- uncomfortable and muggy, it can be a killer. at least 13 deaths blamed on the broiling heat that's frying a good two-thirds of the country as you see on the map, and there's no relief in site. in iowa the extreme heat buckling parts of an interstate and sending folk toss the hospital. janice dean in our fox extreme weather center is keeping an eye on these extreme temperatures. >> reporter: guess how many states are under heat advisory right now, jon scott? jon: i'm going to go with 20. >> reporter: 32, and it is affecting millions and millions of people. do not adjust your set, that's the temperature factored in with the humidity, what it feel bees like when you go outside. your body just can't function properly to, with these heat indices. so 129, 129 it felt like in newton, iowa, yesterday, and i

believe that's the third day that they've seen heat indices that high which is extraordinarily dangerous. you really cannot be outside for an extended length of time. parts of mc, also illinois -- minnesota, also illinois and south dakota. one of the reasons we're seeing these heat indices is because of the record flooding we saw across the midwest, so a lot of available moisture because we have hundreds of thousands of farmland that are still flooded. so these are typically the type of heat indices that you would see across the shores of the red sea. so, yeah, tropical. tropical moisture, indeed. heat advisories, as i mentioned, 32 states if you can imagine this, and we're dealing with the potential for heat indices, again, anywhere from 105 to 115 degrees in many, many states, a lot of populated city here including new york city as this heat spread eastward. so forecast heat index, 109 in chicago, 108 in louisville, 102

in d.c., 108 in st. louis. so very dangerous. we are urging folks to, please, stay indoors and check on the elderly and make sure your little ones are inside in the air-conditioning. tomorrow highs, again, not much relief across much of the central u.s. in towards the east coast and, again, those heat indices, what it really feels like, well above 100 degrees, jon scott. so really a dangerous situation. it's not just july heat, it's really dire at this point. jon this is when everybody should go to the high rockies of colorado. [laughter] to cool off. jenna: look at that, a little commercial for your colorado rockies. jon: you want to join me? >> reporter: are you kidding me? i'm there. jon: all right. j.d., thank you. jenna: even more extreme weather being blamed for a deadly washout in wyoming. an entire family swept up in if flood currents, and only one person survived. julie banderas is live in our new york city newsroom and, julie, it's truly a

heartbreaking story. >> reporter: yeah. the family's van was swept by flood waters on a washed-out section of mountain highway in southeast wyoming. the van was then dragged downstream into a creek as you see it there and submerged up to its rooftop. officials say debris in the creek blocked the system that runs the water under the highway. it then tore through the roadway, as you can see, opening that 25-foot-wide, 9-foot-deep breach. the mother and her daughters just ages 8, 5 and 2 all drowned. only their father, seen here, alex, you survived after he mand to escape. his wife laurel and his beloved children were later found inside the van by emergency officials who say they were all wearing their seat belts or in child seats. friends and neighbors are in shock and just devastated for him. >> his girls were his life, and i knew, i know that he had such

great hopes for them growing up. >> it's tough. it's tough. not supposed to go this way. things like this aren't supposed to happen. >> reporter: the story just gives you chills. the community is showing support. neighbors have placed flowers, candles and stuffed animals outside the family's home just trying to show their support be. jenna: and we're taking a look at another picture here, julie, we hear there was a second accident. >> that's correct. a local emergency management official who was responding to the accident driving that red car there, the same thing happened to him. he was dragged away through the same washout and also plunged into the creek. in fact, at one point the water washed over his vehicle, but the water inside got no high or than his waist, and he survived. apparently, his windows were rolled up. he was rescued two hours later. flooding in the wyoming, by the way, has been blamed for at least two other deaths. jenna: we talk so much about the

extreme weather, it's just a good reminder that's the one thing we can take from these stories. julie, thank you very much. >> reporter: sure. jon: some sensational claims under investigation now that pakistan spent millions here in america to influence u.s. policy. and the fbi is claiming pakistan's spy agency was secretly funneling money to this man, an american running a nonprofit group based in the washington d.c. that investigation heating up. slumping home sales hit a seven-month low indicating continued weakness in the housing market in this country. how is the soft demand affecting the overall economy? america's asking. send us your questions for today's town hall usa. [ male announcer ] this is coach parker... whose non-stop day starts with back pain... and a choice. take advil no and maybe up to four in a day. or choose aleve and two pills for a day free of pain.

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jenna: welcome back, everybody. we have this fox news alert. we've been telling you about this proposal, this long-term debt reduction proposal by the

gang of sick, a bipartisan group of senators that have developed this plan. there they are on the screen. the question is, what happens next? what are they going to do to make this an actual reality? it seems we have at least one answer, oneover our great -- one of our great capitol hill producers tells us they are going to be meeting with democrats about 1 p.m. today. it sounds a little bit like a briefing to tell the house about what their plans are and maybe to flush out some of the details here. again, the majority is with the republicans, so that would be the next question, what about the republican side? you can't do anything without them. we'll keep you up-to-date. jon: the arrest of a washington-area businessman highlighting what the feds say is a well orchestrated campaign by pack tan to -- pakistan to try to steer u.s. policy. he's accused of funneling millions of dollars to various organizations and u.s. lawmakers

for many years. already some of those red-faced politicians are scrambling to try to give the money back, but our next guest says we shouldn't be surprised by all of this. jim carafano is a senior fellow at the heritage foundation, he is a security and foreign policy analyst. jim, what do we know about this guy? >> well, he's one of these kind of consummate, classic guys that's been around town forever, american council that advocates for pakistanis in kashmir. i talked to folks who were involved in intelligence and the diplomatic communities, and most of them say a lot of them long suspected he had connections with the isi, the pakistani intelligence service. so i can't say there are a lot of people that are terribly surprised about, that this lobbying effort has connections to pakistani intelligence. jon: but the pakistanis are supposedly our friends in this, you know, fight against terrorism. >> yeah. we should all kind of wake up and realize that, you know,

friendly countries, one, spy on each other and, two, often try to influence each other covertly. you know, during world war ii, for example, the two biggest countries that were spying on and trying to influence the united states were not japan and germany, they were actually russia and great britain who were our allies. the british actually had a thing they called the rumor factory in washington which was there to just kind of spread rumors about the germans. people like ian fleming, the guy that wrote james bond, he kind of worked the u.s. cocktail party circuit trying to get american to support the british. boy, this sure isn't new. jon: the allegation here is that this guy helped funnel about $4 million of cash to various members of congress who would be able to, you know, influence u.s. policy or maybe vote on u.s. policy especially with regard to kashmir. that portion of disputed territory that lies between india and pakistan. both nations claim it as their own. >> yeah. well, all i can say is, you

know, the pakistani intelligence service could have used that money a lot better fighting terrorists back in pakistan. look, the odds of floating around a little money like that, moving u.s. policy on kashmir are zero. kashmir is a flash point issue between india and pakistan. the last thing the united states is going to do is get in the middle of that issue because it would just probably anger both sides. matter of fact, there was, you know, there was a nut case argument when the obama administration came in, and people said, well, let's go solve the kashmir issue between india and pakistan, and then they'll both be great allies and help us fight al-qaeda. and, you know, people that know that issue said, what are you nuts? all you're going to do is get both sides angry at you. so the administration has stayed away from that as the bush administration did, you know, kind of like it's poison, and that's probably the right policy. so the notion that this council could actually do much other than, you know, throw a few cocktail parties and actually influence u.s. policy, boy, what

a waste of money. jon: all right. jim carafano from the heritage foundation. read more from him on foxnews.com on this topic. jim, thank you. jenna: new developments surrounding operation fast and furious. that's that botched federal sting that allowed thousands of guns to be smuggled into mexico. why all but one of the people who bought the firearms remain free. plus, a trip to one of yosemite's most amazing sites goes horribly wrong. the search for three hikers swept over a waterfall. >> i saw the man's eyes as he was going over the waterfall, and that was devastating. my cream is what makes stouffer's fettuccini alfredo

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jon: stories we are following right now, the fort hood shooting suspect heads to court for his arraignment.

u.s. army nidal hasan will appear before a mull tear judge in fort hood -- military judge in fort hood facing the death penalty for the 2009 shooting rampage. a search underway in yosemite national park for at least three hikers. they reportedly were swept over the vennal falls, 317 feet high. that, obviously, is not the falls, but that's a look at the river. a group of about ten family and friends supposedly were with them when this accident happened. space shuttle atlantis heading home to earth following its final trip to the international space station. the astronauts scheduled for an early morning landing tomorrow in florida. it will be the last one in nasa's 30-year shuttle program. jenna: this fox news alert, new information on the feds' gun-running scandal. the house oversight committee announcing just a few moments ago it will hold another round of hearings into this program

called operation fast and furious. it's a program we've been watching so closely for you here at fox, a controversial program allowed so-called straw buyers to purchase a large number of weapons from gun stores here in the u.s. many of those guns ended up in the hands of drug cartels in mexico, and it was supposed to be like following this path, wasn't it, william la jeunesse, to try to figure out who's behind some of these gun-running plans? you have the update. william? >> reporter: well, jenna, tuesday's hearing will focus on mexico and how a a tf kept its own agents in the dark. here's the irony. while publicly claiming that fast and furious took down a major violent operation, privately agents considered it a joke. while the atf quietly put 19 out of 20 suspects back on the street which is where we found them in phoenix. >> hi. >> hi. i'm looking for there carrio. >> and what's this regarding? >> are you awar of this

indictment, the indictment regarding purchase of firearms? >> um, no. >> does that ring a bell? >> no. >> reporter: at the center of operation fast and furious, 20 defendants accused of trafficking guns to mexico. >> we feel very strongly that we have completely dismantled if not significantly dismantled a major firearms organization. >> reporter: but after thousands of man hours and millions spent going after that violent criminal a gang, we expected to find the suspects in jail, and we were wrong. my name's william la jeunesse, i'm a correspondent with fox news. is there anything you want to say to these people that have been harmed by the guns you bought? >> no. >> reporter: only one went to jail, the rest went free almost immediately awaiting trial. >> it's pretty scary. you think there's a lot of people that probably are not going to get out, they're going to be detained because of the risk. >> reporter: former u.s. attorney mel mcdonald says the defendants' release suggests the

fast and furious scandal is also a failure sought to tear down an arms trafficking operation. the smugglers, transporters and buyers. but in the end all prosecutors got was one middleman and a handful of straw buyers. >> a straw buyer is usually a kid who's 18 to, i'll say 25, maybe up to 30 years old who needs a couple hundred extra bucks and knows somebody that knows somebody that has a way to make a couple extra bucks. >> reporter: well, the bottom line is these straws are the bottom rung in the cartel ladder, jenna, and prosecutors tell me in all likelihood they will get probation, a sad situation considering all the victims killed or injured by the guns they sold. back to you. jenna: and so are the questions by certain members of congress about this plan. william, thank you so much for your continued reporting on this. we will be talking to one of the key players in the investigation into the fast and furious scandal, that's senator chuck

grassley. he's going to join us in just a few minutes. we'll talk more about his frustrations with the justice department, about finding more information about what exactly happened here. jon: and a related story "happening now" in arizona. that state is launching a web site where folks can chip in money to pay for a border fence. harris is here with more. harris? >> reporter: yeah. this is actually interesting timing for all of this. it coincides with the state legislature there in arizona passing its regular session and all of its bills pretty much going into effect today. build the border fence.com put together by state senator steve smith because he's trying to raise some $50 million to pay for this, and there it is. the site going up live today. it is hot right now. i just got off of it, so it's only been up a couple of hours. going into operation today to try to raise money for people. they can make their donations for fencing along the state's border with mexico. we've been talking just now and reporting for months, jon, about

the need, um, for something down there, for people down there because of the incidents of illegals coming across the border and the violence that's been happening particularly in the state of arizona. we've got some video now showcasing some of the reporting we've been doing. a committee of legislators, state agency directors and county sheriffs are making recommendations to the legislature on how and where to spend the money that they anticipate is going to come in quickly because of public response. they're looking again to raise $50 million. build the border fence.com if you want to donate, or if you just want more information about it. democrat lawmakers say that the project is misguided, so there is some political discord about the site. but right now i've just checked and you've seen it, it's hot. jon? is. jon: when i was in college, one of my jobs was putting up chain-link fence. do you suppose they want my help? [laughter] >> reporter: i'll put your name on the web site, and they can call you if they're interested. [laughter] jon: i'll be waiting a long time for that, i think.

harris, thank you. jenna: some troubling new numbers, what they mean for the economy, the value of your home. economist steve moore is here to answer your questions about money matters, those about housing, the debt ceiling and everything else. log on to foxnews.com, let us know what's on your mind. go to the america's asking link, he'll be up after the break. also a pinch here, a tweak there and anyone's a supermodel, jon. jon: wow. jenna: critics say these images create unattainable goals for all of us, and they can very bad consequences. what to do about it just ahead. ♪ i am thin and gorgeous! i am thin and gorgeous! ♪

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use promo code: norisk. plus get this document shredder, free! but only if you act right now. call now! lifelock service guarantee cannot be offered to residents of new york. jon: right now the search is on for more energy in america in a place you might not expect. pennsylvania could be on track to become the nation's biggest exporter of natural gas by the end of the decade. with that would come thousands of new jobs. the source, natural gas from shale rock. but the practice of drilling it comes with controversy. senior correspondent john roberts has been on this story and is live in atlanta with more. john? >> reporter: hey, good afternoon, to you, jon. certainly it is a controversial process but according to new industry-sponsored report from penn state university it does seem to have very, very significant economic benefits. first of all here is one of

the fichbding. pennsylvania currently has enough gas production that it could be energy 7:00 sufficient and even export gas. in nine year's time it should be able to supply one quarter of this country's natural gas needs. it is also creating job. according to the state department of labor, 72,000 jobs have been created by the gas industry in the past 18 months. the penn state report says this year 156,000 jobs will somehow be impacted by the gas industry. it lowered cost to consumers. according to the report by 12.6% resulting in savings of $633 to businesses and homeowners, household consumers in 2010. according to catherine klaber executive director of the marcella shale coalition. this report's findings go well beyond even their rosiest expectations. >> the optimistic projections that were made last year have been blown away. we're looking at jobs,

economic development, tax revenue from this industry in bones vain that is truly phenomenal and actually, you know, at this point, a national scale story. >> but as with anything there's potential downside to all of this. critics of the gas industry say faulty wells have contaminated aquifers and spills on the surface of fracking fluid which can continue some toxic chemicals have fouled waterways. while the industry paid $1.72 billion in state and local taxes last year, critics say they could get a lot more out of the gas industry in pennsylvania like other states impose wellhead tax a severance tax on gas. pennsylvania governor tom corbett is against that he wants to make the playing field as friendly as it can be for an industry, jon, reaping big economic benefits in his state. jon: john roberts reporting live for us. thank you. jenna: time for a little town hall usa. america is asking and we're asking about the economy today. we have some brand new

numbers out this morning on the housing market. sales of previously-owned homes, homes already built, already lived in, unexpectedly fell last month sitting at 7-month low. part of the reason, the contracts, economists say the contracts for sales were canceled for a variety of different reasons. we'll get into more on that in a second. it certainly more tough news for an already-depressed market. of course we also have the debt ceiling debate looming. you have the debt crisis happening. so both on the homefront and nationally we have all these issues. steve moore is senior economics writer at "the wall street journal." steve, one of the write-ups on existing home sales says this. this year is on pays to be the worst for sales since the housing bust. how is that possible? >> oh, you know, every time i think that the housing market is going to get better, jenna, we've been talking about this story for months, every time we get some good news in housing we get a big setback like this. this is big setback that people aren't buying new

homes. this is big problem for people who have homes trying to sell them. what it will mean, if people aren't buying homes what does that mean? the housing values continue to fall. that is a big problem. and by the way we saw major economists, housing economist yesterday say that he predicts another 10 to 20% decline in housing values, which means more foreclosures. if people lose equity in their house. jenna: we're hearing one of the reasons why some of these sales aren't happening it is not necessarily no one is shopping but we're seeing deals fall through. contracts get canceled. >> yep. jenna: why are we seeing that? >> i think it's the kind of panic that's happened in the economy over the last month or so, jenna. looked like the first four months of this year the economy was really picking up steam. and then we of course hit that speed bump and let's hope it is just a speed bump. i think people are frightened to take on this new debt. by the way, jenna, if i may, this story ties into the other story you innings ined

about what is happening with the debt ceiling. if we have downgrade on our debt and if we can't deal with this enormous $14.3 trillion debt and bring it down then the forecast is interest rates are going to rise. think what that means for the housing market if interest rates start to climb up, it will even make housing more unaffordable for people. jenna: as you point out, interest rates are at historic lows. >> bargain basement. jenna: you can't get buyers into the market when they're like that the question is what happens if they double, triple or go up even higher. mark has a question. it is a simple one but gets to the point. he says why is this so difficult? we have all this stuff happening with the economy yet all these efforts into the housing market. you have a bunch of people working on some sort of debt deal. why can't we figure something out? >> well, if he means why can't we figure out something on the debt i sure hope we can because i think this is getting really serious as we move towards this debt ceiling deadline. we have to cut spending, jenna. i think the global financial

markets want to see a sign that the american politicians, both president obama and the republicans in congress are able to get together with a spending reintroduction package. that we're serious about bringing debt down. that we'll not borrow a trillion 1/2 dollars year after year after year. if we don't do it --. jenna: are there any plans out there right now, steve, that seem to be able to, as you say, kind of soften some of the fears of the global market? is there anything out there that they're putting out there that seems possible? >> yes, jenna. i'm actually somewhat hopeful about the "gang of six" plan. this is the new plan, the three democrats and three republicans in the senate came out with. now we don't know a lot of the details. the details are very murky. the fine print has not been written but the broad outline i think is very positive of trying to bring the debt down by $4 trillion. cutting tax rates to grow the economy. it is a good framework for a deal. whether they get 218 votes in the house and 51 votes in the senate for that, i don't know. but i think it is a really good start. jenna: there is question

what you do about the debt ceiling. we know the debt reduction plan could be attached to the debt ceiling vote and what happens next. >> yeah. jenna: just a quick question. we're hearing more about this as we get close to the august 2nd deadline about potential temporary raise in the debt ceiling. when do you think that is a possibility? two, do you think that is a good idea? >> yeah, look. if we reach august 2nd and we don't have a debt deal they should reach a temporary deal, cut spending a little bit until they come up with the deal. we don't want to see downgrade in the debt, right, jenna? we want to see progress made. i think that's what the american people want. i think the possibility of a short-term debt deal is looking more probable. don't forget, jenna the president is saying he won't sign a short-term debt deal. they could be loggerheads on that as well. jenna: we'll see what happens as they get closer to the deadline. steve, thanks very much. always nice to have you. >> thank you, generics there is a major new push against a common practice blamed for hurting america's kids. the nation's largest medical

association is urging ad tiesers to stop using unreesistic photoshopped pictures to try to sell products. courtney friel live in the newsroom with a look at that. >> reporter: there are concerns, jon, that there are consequences to unrealistic advertising. let's be realistic. will models, photographers and media up to changing their publicity campaigns? >> there are plenty of celebrities who ask for a nip here or a tuck there when it comes to retouching their photos. >> reporter: who wouldn't want to be blemish-free with smaller hips and a golden tan? >> sarah jessica parker is on this month's cover of "vogue." it is the age issue but at 46 years old there is not a wrinkle to be found in her face. elizabeth hurley was quoted she relies on good photographer and certain amount of rye touching. >> reporter: the american medical association is adopting a new policy which discourages airbrushing specifically in teen publications. its concern?

photoshopped images can lead to eating disorders and distorted body image. >> we think reasonable guidelines could be developed by advertising associations to make sure we take care of our kids in a good way so they don't develop these unhealthy expectations about themselves. >> reporter: with automatic photo editing software programs widely available, airbrushing is easier than ever. >> tells you what to do. >> reporter: sebt photographer dave, uses pictures of me to show how quickly this is done and believes the practice is here to stay. >> every magazine will be photo shopped. everyone is fixed up to some degree. people made slimmer. add color. correct blemishes, complexion. no photo right out of camera is ready to be put into print and circulation. >> reporter: and some countries like france, britain and israel have proposed legislation for companies to identify when their ads have been altered. celebrities as britney spears, kate winslet and

brad pitt have spoken out against extreme retouching. back to you. jon: courtney, thank you very much. courtney doesn't need to be photo shopped. jenna: nothing wrong with that picture at all. that was a good example of though. excellent example. what viewers don't know we rely on good photographers, a little retouching. every day. right? jon: a little makeup too. jenna: don't we all. this is a serious story next. the justice department may be -- in some people's mind this has to do with that operation fast and furious. william la i can't necessary was telling us about this earlier. a failed federal sting allowing u.s. guns to end up in mexico. members of congress say the justice department is stonewalling. iowa senator chuck grassley will join us with more on the investigation. is there a cover-up going on? we'll ask him just ahead. jon: we'll go to the web wall. harris is there with a look at today's must-see moment. harris? >> people are already

voting. foxnews.com. go to the homepage and click on jon an jenna's beautiful picture there to take you happ egg now's home -- "happening now"'s homepage. choose what happened that left a elderly woman stuck in the ocean in northern california for 13 hours. the rescue you just have to see it. the next story that you might want to see the video is really amazing. armed police officials and forest rangers standing on the roof of a house to catch a leopard. why? and the third story? i don't know, hey criminal, in that getaway car watch out for that geyser. a whole lot the water. you make the decision so that the rest of us can see the story play out. if it is "happening now", you want to stay right here.

>> as you were talking about with william la jeunesse a few minutes ago there is

growing chorus of calls for the justice department to release more information on operation fast and furious. fox news has learned more than 2000 guns were sold to various minor criminals. the plan here was to track those guns, to stop gun smuggling to mexico. the problem, was that the guns weren't appropriately tracked. however, a few of those guns also found their way to the scene of a murdered border agent, brian terry. another story we've been talking a lot about. the justice department is currently doing its own ongoing investigation, we want to mention that but some u.s. senators are critical of the doj so far and one of them is republican charles grassley of iowa. he is the ranking member of the senate judiciary committee and is investigating the fast and furious scandal. senator, what exactly do you want to know? what information do you want that you're not getting from the justice department? >> who made the decision to have fast and furious that brought these guns illegally

into society and across the border into mexico. and when was it made? and to this point we have not gotten an answer. and we have had some testimony, very valuable testimony, from mr. nelson, the director of alcohol, tobacco and firearms. and that's a division of justice. he told us recently that when i first sent a letter to the justice department in january, i think january the 27th, he was in their office of one of the deputies or assistants within a day or two with all the documents we wanted and, and they said they would take care of it. well, we found out that we aren't getting those documents. we get some of them clandestinely. we've gotten some of them more recently when we put the heat on the justice department. but we're not getting everything that we know that,

that exists and we aren't getting answers to questions otherwise. and there is stonewalling on the part of justice department on this although i got to say, there is a little more cooperation since they finally have awakenedded to the fact that if they want something out of us like their nominees to be approved, they have got to cooperate with us. jenna: are you suggesting a government cover-up is happening? >> listen, when i get stonewalled the way that i have been stonewalled, i, that talk goes through my mind but i need more evidence to say that for sure. jenna: so why would it be important to know then how high this goes up? for example, why is it important to know exactly who put this program into place? >> well, first of all, because it is a stupid policy. it is a could you boy tactic. -- cowboy tactic. as you said in your program

and there has been a murder and guns connected to the murder of that border agent. and the fact that we have laws in this country that say guns are supposed to be sold according to the law. this was the government promoting the illegal sale of guns through third parties to get them across the border and the federal government ought to be in the business of abiding by the laws, not, not violating the laws. so who is responsible for our violating the laws, that person ought to be held responsible and quite frankly ought to be fired and maybe even further. jenna: how high, how high do you think it goes? >> well i don't know but because of mr. melson's testimony, for the first time we've learned a couple things that we didn't know before. number one, the fbi and the drug enforcement people are involved in this as well as atf people and we --. jenna: senator, sorry to interrupt, really quick here on that with the fbi being involved, we told our

viewers 2,000 guns were sold to various minor criminals. was the fbi involved at all in screening who actually got those guns? >> all i can say at this point is, they knew about the operation, fast and furious. then the last thing we learned from mr. melson was, that people really high up in the justice department, how high we adopt know for sure, knew about this. and, and, at that point, you know, it took us two or three months to find out any of this information. but we don't have all of our questions answered. jenna: senator, i have only about 30 seconds here. obviously the gun smuggling, border issues, they're big issues for our country. i have limited time but what do we do now? what's next here? >> thank god we have got congressman issa in the house of representatives. he has subpoena power. i don't have that in the senate. he will call in people from our embassy in mexico city, american people to find out what they know about it because we think they have a

lot of information we ought to know. so that's next week. jenna: we'll be looking and covering the story on that. by the way we reached out to the department of justice. we did not get a response to them. but it is a story we'll continue to cover. senator, thanks so much for coming on. we appreciate it. >> thank you very much. jon: you have to stick around for a story that jenna and i just love. is this the solution to the nation's obesity problem? he is a pint-sized fitness instructor and he wants to whip other kids into shape. wants to get his classmates and their parents off the couch. he is here to tell us how, next. ♪

jon: a young man is working

up a big sweat and getting american kids into better shape. take a look. >> all the movement where your body starts. >> how is my core? >> we better get started. keep it up, guys. i know it's hard. i feel it too. jon: he is the youngest fitness instructor in the country. even has his own line of dvd's to help get you going. he is on a mission to get other kids off the couch. the workout kid, c.j. senter joins us now. cj, before people get the wrong impression, you don't, you know take all kind of supplements and pills all that kind of stuff? you don't even lift weights? this is all just sort of body weight moving, right? >> right. just push ups, sit-ups, crunches and all that kind of stuff. jon: how many push ups can you do?

>> at one time? jon: yeah. >> 50. jon: 50? jenna: i can't do 50. i can barry do ten in a row. jon: what got this motivated to do this, cj? >> when i was 5 years old our coach said get set for big tournament. when i got home i started working out and i liked it and i have been doing ever since. jon: how old were you when you started?. >> five. jon: you've been doing this five years, half your life? and you've got the muscles to show for it. and it works. i understand, that besides being a fitness instructor, you are a top-rated football player, huh? >> yes. jon: we're looking at some of your videos. what do you do with them? >> excuse me? jon: what do you do with your videos? i know that they are designed to help get other kids moving but, how do they get a hold of one if they want one? >> well, you can go on ww

workoutkid.com and you can order it. jenna: cj, i you want message of fitness to be not just out there for kids but folks like me and jon as well. we can use a few extra tips. if there is one exercise we should do every day or couple times a week, what should that exercise be? >> that one exercise would be is the shreader. jenna: the shreader. what's the shreader? >> the shreader, it consists of going down, into a push upposition. up. and then you jump into the air. jenna: the shreader. i'm going to try that later on. jon: i have tried that and, it's a lot work. jenna: it's a lot of work? jon: yeah. jenna: i think it sound pretty good. jon: he is a great fitness coach. cj center, the workout kid. thanks for sharing your message of good health.

we hope it gets around to a lot of kids your age and frankly the rest of adults. thank you, cj. >> you're welcome.

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